Bed bugs in Manhattan hotel made birthday trip suck

The Big Apple can be a tough city, but as a paying guest you'd hardly expect it to take a bite out of you.

But that's what happened to Long Beach, California local Elgin Ozlen, who took a trip to the east coast for his birthday, only to discover that he and his girlfriend would be sharing their hotel bed with some voracious residents – an army of bloodsucking bed bugs.

In a video posted to YouTube, Mr Olgin takes the viewer on the grand tour of his $115 room in Manhattan's Astor on the Park, which was missing a few basics, like heating and power outlets, but positively lousy with parasites.

Tasty...the bugs feasted on Mr Ozlen's girlfriend. (YouTube) ()

"I noticed today my girlfriend's arms, and side and stomach, in a full rash, from what I assumed came from outside," Mr Ozlen says, raking the lens over the poor woman's welted body.

"But really, it came from this bed," he continues, flipping the mattress to reveal an infestation of bed bugs so bad the viewer may have difficulty suppressing a psychosomatic reaction.

"I want to let everyone know today is my birthday, and this is what my experience has been," Mr Ozlen says, noting that this was the third room he and his girlfriend had been moved to due a litany of shortcomings in their previous rooms.

Snug. Time for a new mattress. (YouTube) ()

But the Astor on the Park – referring to Central Park – is just another in a long line of New York hotels to have allegedly played host to the scourge of cimex lectularis, which is noted for having a particular thirst for human blood.

In fact, the revolting creatures are a constant problem in the city, with many visitors registering complaints about their prevalence, and this is not the first time the Astor has been called out as a plagued place of lodging.

"I got bitten up badly on my legs when staying at the Astor on the Park," one reviewer quoted by Gothamist wrote on The Bedbug Registry in 2013.

"On the third floor…I believe it was room 310. Anyway very bad experience but the hotel isn't much for quality either."